Mourning Ripples
by Watercolor Ink
Summary: In the end, all Sasuke and Naruto can do is remember and mourn.  Rated for blood and angst, Itachi's death fic. Epic oneshot


Once again, finished this at 2 in the morning... anyway, I'm back from vacation, and I've written this story.

Warnings: It has blood. Lots and lots of blood and angst. Slight NaruSasu... well actually, a lot of NaruSasu but it really is supposed to be a friendship fic. Don't worry, theres only hugging.

Also... I'm tired, and the very ending became all metaphotically...

Oh right, and don't sue me cuz I don't own Naruto.

Let it begin.

* * *

It had all happened by accident, coincidence.

Now, Naruto watched horrified as his once best friend broke down before his brother's body. A sword, thrust by Sasuke himself, stood tall and glaring, embedded into Itachi's cold, breathless form. Sasuke was on his knees, his once white loose shirt stained red in the blood of his brother, which pooled around him and rippled as he trembled.

Tears streamed down the other boy's face, as it contorted in barely suppressed rage, sorrow, and loss.

Naruto, with several gaping wounds himself, felt his own rage and anger bubble up inside him. _Why are you mourning him? _He wanted to scream, _you finally killed him! You! Stop crying! _He wanted to shake him and hit him, anything to get that glazed look of terror off his face.

Itachi's face was calm, cool, and he could have been sleeping, unaware of the scene playing out before him. He could have been, if not that his dark heart had stopped beating, cold metal slashing it right down the center. How right that he was so collected even after death.

Sasuke doubled over, coughing up his own blood as his bangs dipped into that of his brother. The sight was painful and horrible and it took all of Naruto's will not to rush forward.

Inside him, Kyuubi looked on sorrowfully. Kyuubi, who was a monster, a demon, a killer, but who was also a fox and a mother.

_Kit…little one…_

She spoke to him, but he was so full of turmoil and confusion and horror that she had to call again before he heard her. And he was not happy.

_WHAT- _he roared, before the massacring fox let her instincts wash over his troubled thoughts, let her maternity reach him.

Then; he was walking forward, on his knees next to the sobbing Uchiha. (Truly the last one, this time) Inside he recoiled in disgust at the feeling of Itachi's blood lapping at his legs, but on the outside he was guided by Kyuubi and his own worry.

Slowly, he massaged Sasuke's hand off the hilt of his katana, cerulean eyes never leaving the face it belonged to. The obsidian eyes, clouded by grief and fear, refused to meet his, or never saw he was there. They only stared blankly at the blood, which by now was a mixture of his own as well. But it had always been, since they were family.

Naruto said nothing, but was there, a silent presence to comfort and cry on. And Sasuke cried- he turned suddenly and gripped the other boy's black and orange and now red jacket, sobbing into it as small screams racked his body.

And Naruto was terrified, disgusted, but he put his arms around the pale body and let the boy cry. _Comfort him… _the voice of the fox whispered, and Naruto eyes grew concerned and worried and he rose, pulling Sasuke up with him.

The pair limped to one of the few remaining trees in the area; the only sound that of the wind and the pain of one Uchiha Sasuke. The curse mark adorning him for eternity had long since resided, Sasuke's body too weak to handle the snaking curse.

Sasuke's screams and sobs soon died down to muffled moans and cries, and Naruto realized he was asleep, his raven black hair dripping blood as he leaned limply into Naruto's lap.

He let himself fall to sleep as well; exhausted from the intense fight and the shock of everything that had happened. Closing his blue blue eyes, he let himself slip away, his body leaning over Sasuke's so that they were close and he was comforted.

* * *

_Blue blue eyes open to a hallway, lighted with a pale yellow, the sound of dripping water echoing off the walls. He knows where he is._

_Black black eyes open to a hallway, long and dark and sickly yellow. Something drips here, blood or water, he doesn't know which. He doesn't know where he is, but pain engulfs him. A flash of orange up ahead, and he follows, because lately orange has been his only lifeline in a place filled with red and black, red and black and blood and hate._

_He follows to a cage, one he's seen only once before, when he forced his way in. Behind it, he sees red red eyes and sharp sharp teeth, but they are not so bloodthirsty as before. Now, they watch concerned as a boy with golden hair presses himself against the bars, unstable and wanting only the soft, comforting fur of his fox._

_And the fox comes. Red fur pokes through, and Kyuubi is pressing herself against the bars as well, if only to be with her kit. He wants it too, the comfort of a mother, dead long ago. Dead just like his only brother, the one he hated with his very soul._

_When he comes, Naruto is surprised, shocked. But Sasuke's is longing and desperate, and together they grasp warm fur and huddle together as the water around them ripples. Ripples like blood._

_Then; the raven-haired boy starts to remember. He remembers many people now dead, a mother's smile and a father's hard won approval. He remembers awe and admiration for a prodigy, as well as detest for always being in his shadow. He remembers a small smile and loyalty and a piggy back ride. He remembers before hate started, when there was a bond of love between brothers._

_Naruto and Kyuubi watch silently, watch as Sasuke relives his childhood, reliving it themselves._

_He remembers pride. He remembers joy and laughter. He remembers a night long ago that has obsessed his life. A night filled with glinting swords and swirling red eyes and the pain of betrayal. _

_Kyuubi and Naruto remember too, though these memories do not belong to them. They see it all, watching the bittersweet scenes with the realization of what this man did, of who he was once was, and what he was now._

_Dead._

_But before that a killer, a murderer. And before that, a big brother, a prodigy. Before he was Uchiha Itachi, he was nii-san and aniki. Naruto cries with Sasuke now, the pain of everything eating away at him._

_And Kyuubi, the destroyer, wraps a long red tail around the two boys, growling her own remorse. _

_Together, they mourn a man who died many, many years ago, and they mourn a man who died only minutes before._

* * *

Together, they wake, Sasuke still leaning into Naruto's chest, Naruto still pulling Sasuke into a small, tight hug. Their eyes meet and Naruto knows the loss Sasuke knows. Not just the loss of his only family, But the loss of a purpose in life, a reason to live. Naruto knows, because he lost his own brother once, to a coiling snake with golden eyes. And he knows because in his childhood, while Sasuke was happy, he was faced with loneliness and finding a way to live.

"Itachi is dead." Naruto whispers, eyes falling on the pale body laying a little ways away, the blood already beginning to crust and blacken on his chest. "But you must always remember your Nii-san."

Sasuke looks at him apprehensively, his emotionless mask destroyed sometime during the fight. Then, knowledge dawns, and he nods wearily.

"I will." And it is a promise.

Together they rise, tangled in each other, but each unwilling to let go. Stumbling along through the trees, they know they've lost too much blood, and they share a dizzying headache. They share everything right now, because they are two great, anguished ninja.

And it is said that truly great ninja can read each others thoughts at a single touch.

* * *

Sakura and Kakashi found them, half a mile from Itachi's body, collapsed and half conscious. Both had dealt with the sight in different ways, (Meaning Kakashi had widened his eye and nearly fainted, meaning Sakura had broke down crying and then punched an enormous tree in half.) but neither could deny the looks of utter peace on the boy's faces, which faced each other as they lay in the dirt, eyes closed.

Later, in the hospital, wounds bound and blood washed from their bodies, they talked. Sasuke talked of sleepless nights and the haunting image of Itachi, and how now, when he should have been happy, he felt only hopelessness. Naruto talked of his encounters with Itachi, of his amazing eyes that gave him nightmares also.

Still, they mourned.

Sakura came to visit everyday for hours at a time. Naruto offered her shaking smiles and accepted her gifts, but Sasuke offered nothing. Only a cool, sad gaze that left the kunoichi crying at night.

Kakashi was always there, a silent watchful guard. Not once had either of the boys seen him open his orange book. He watched and he listened as the two boys whispered to each other, amazed at their bond. Sometimes, they didn't even talk, simply rested their foreheads together as though speaking internally.

Kyuubi mourned as well, but she was demon and this little bit of human emotion confused her body. Soon, she knew she would get over the man's death and settle back into her life behind bars. The kit though, and his friend, his brother, reminded her always. Sometimes they came and the three talked. Sometimes they came and she would wrap them up in her tails and they would simply sleep. Mostly, it made the fox feel like a mother once again and she couldn't help but enjoy that feeling.

Itachi's body was recovered by a team of ANBU, but there was no funeral.

Inside Naruto, beside the Kyuubi's cage, there was a funeral.

Weeks later, the boys were released from the hospital. Their thoughts connected, their mind wandered to red eyes and red pools. As the two stepped outside, the sun glittering, the first thing Sasuke saw was the blue blue sky. And blue blue eyes.

Suddenly, to Sasuke at least, the world was not full of waiting shadows and forgotten smiles; it was full of a golden blue glow.

Sakura and Kakashi, their escorts, watched dazed and amazed, as a slow, small smile crept onto both faces, heads turned to the sky. In a dark room, in a cold cage, Kyuubi smiled, sunlight creeping in.

And Sasuke, who had spoken to no one besides Naruto for the past two months, said softly "I must move on, nii-san, but I will never forget."

Naruto nodded. "It's a promise."

And the two clasped each others hands, for comfort, for contact, for the thoughts they shared. Team 7, reunited (Well, perhaps only half of the team was really united, but it was the half that truly mattered, that glued everything together,) walked down the streets of Konoha.

In a forest, in a clearing, a black pool sat untouched, dried and ugly. Ripples lay frozen on its surface, reminders that this was once a brilliant red liquid, once beat in the heart of a twisted, dark man.

It had all been an accident, actually. A coincidence that the three shinobi had converged on that point. The black pool would always be there now, a monument of hate and fear.

And yet, and yet, the one who was hated was no longer mourned, and the one who had feared found his safety.

It wasn't particularly as it should be, but it was good enough.


End file.
